Deathly: A Zutara songfic
by Vicki So
Summary: Zuko and Katara's thoughts in the hours following their departure from The Ho'Wan Island Carnival, to the tune of Deathly by Aimee Mann. One shot.


**This is my first songfic. It takes place almost immediately after my first story, The Ho'Wan Island Carnival.**

**The song "Deathly" is by Aimee Mann, and is featured on the Magnolia soundtrack.**

**I don't own this song, or Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

* * *

Katara heaved a shaky sigh, stifling a sob as she lay curled in fetal position on Appa's saddle. Sokka covered his heartbroken sister with his parka and let her be, sidling up next to Aang with a sad, knowing look. 

They didn't know what had happened. She wouldn't say. They only knew that something had.

The flying bison climbed into the sky, the night deepening into sapphire velvet scattered with stars. Behind them, the Fire Nation ship shrank into a tiny pinky-tip-sized blot on the ocean's black surface.

* * *

_**Now that I've met you  
would you object to  
never seeing each other again? **_

Zuko picked at his dinner in silence. When Uncle Iroh tried to make conversation, he excused himself and walked out onto the deck, the sky a deep indigo flecked with pinpricks of silver light.

The colour of the night sky reminded him of her eyes.

He found himself whispering her name. _Katara…_

Zuko watched the distant white puff in the sky that was the flying bison, his mind replaying the day's events. Had he just let this day completely escape him? At what point had he decided a girl was more important than his honour?

Not just any girl. A Water Tribe girl. _Foolish idiot_, he cursed himself again. And yet, how he longed to be with her now…

But it was not meant to be. It could never be.

_**Cause I can't afford to  
climb aboard you**_  
**_no one's got that much ego to spend... _**

Her eyes... he was completely captivated by those haunting, ice blue eyes. The way they had pierced his soul when she finally realized who he was...

But how could she not have recognized him before? Sure, the glamour enchantment had done its work... he'd seen it himself just hours before. Perhaps that was why he was so distracted now. Damn that Madam Façade and her spells!

_**So don't work your stuff  
because I've got troubles enough...**_

Why did the world conspire against him? Would it dog him at every step in his quest to capture the Avatar? It was as if honour would escape him at every turn, and life would only throw curveballs his way. Like Katara and her kindness, her sweet laughter, her fascinating blue eyes...

_**No, don't pick on me  
when one act of kindness could be...**_  
**_Deathly… _**

What dishonour lay ahead of the Fire Prince if he were to fall in love with the enemy? It wasn't just that she was a peasant... she was a Water Tribe peasant. And fire and water destroy each other on contact...

_**Deathly...**_

"**_Definitely._**" He murmured to himself.

* * *

Katara slept fitfully, floating between dream and awake. The day's events flashed in her mind, cruelly mocking her girlish foolhardiness. 

I'm an idiot, she kept berating herself.

No stranger to heartbreak (damn that Jet!), she forced herself through the emotional stages as rapidly as possible – sadness, anger, regret, indifference… she would take much longer to surpass to acceptance.

Surely the day had been one long nightmare? She hadn't entirely fallen for _Zuko_, of all people? He had tricked her. Deceived her. Used some spell, maybe, or had planned everything from the beginning, just to get at Aang. Katara refused to allow that she was so boy crazy that she'd just fall for any guy. She had standards, after all.

Didn't she?

_**Cause I'm just a problem for you to solve and  
watch dissolve in the heat of your charm ...**_

_**But what will you do when  
you run it through and  
you can't get me back on the farm? **_

He had been so nice. Sure a little hard to get along with at first, but he had opened up to her slowly. She thought she'd even seen a hint in those gorgeous gold eyes that he liked her.

Katara groaned at herself. What was she thinking? This was Zuko she was talking about! The Avatar-crazy maniac who had chased them halfway around the world. In fact, he was hot on their tail right now!

She wouldn't let him get to her. She wouldn't let him make her feel sorry for him.

_**So don't work your stuff  
because I've got troubles enough  
no, don't pick on me  
when one act of kindness could be...**_

To fall for the enemy. And a Prince of the Fire Nation, no less. What would her father say? Her tribe? Water warmed to fire, boiled passionately with time and heat, but ultimately evaporated, becoming nothing in fire's intensity.

_**Deathly... **_

_**Deathly... **_

"**_Definitely._**" She sighed.

* * *

Iroh stood on the upper deck, watching his nephew stare into the sky at the helm. 

That it had been an interesting day was an understatement. But Zuko's silent brooding was a product of more than just the prince's usual almost-caught-the-Avatar mood. Something had changed.

_**You're on your honor  
cause I'm a goner**_  
**_and you haven't even begun…_**

He knew it wasn't prudent to ask the prince about personal matters. Zuko had stopped having personal matters when he was 14. The only matter he'd been concerned with over the past 2 years was capturing the Avatar.

But Iroh felt it his parental duty to try to get something out of the boy.

"Zuko," he walked up next to the young man and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk?"

_**So do me a favor...**_

"Promise me something, uncle," Zuko said quietly, staring determinedly at the sky.

…**_if I should waver..._**

"If I should hesitate to do the honourable thing, to capture the Avatar..."

…**_Be my savior..._**

"Yes?" Iroh urged him.

**_...and get out the gun…_**

"Promise me you'll smack me in the back of the head really hard."

Iroh smiled at his nephew and chuckled. "Certainly, nephew. I will be ever vigilant."

_**Just don't work your stuff,**_  
**_because I've got troubles enough... _**

* * *

Iroh waddled away. 

So that's what it was, the old general mused. The prince's gold eyes told the whole story. He had seen that same look in homesick soldiers' eyes before.

Love lost.

But who, pray tell, was the lucky girl?

He mulled over this fascinating idea, contemplating this strange turn of Zuko's fiery and passionate character. Who in the world had enough love and strength and kindness to share with his scarred and troubled nephew?

The faintest glimmer of insight came to him. He followed his nephew's line of sight to the flying bison in the sky.

But no. It couldn't be, could it? That was ridiculous. Even the glimmer of insight thought itself ridiculous.

Surely not… her?

_**No, don't pick on me  
when one act of kindness could be **_

**_Deathly… _**

**_Deathly…_**

Iroh beamed.

_**"Definitely."**_

_**

* * *

**_**Review if you dare! All comments and suggestions welcome. **

**Stay tuned! _Bent_ will be published this December!**


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